


In My Corner

by MariontheGeek



Category: iZombie (TV)
Genre: Epilogue, Episode: s03e13 Looking For Mr. Goodbrain Part 2, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Post 3x13, Pre-Relationship, Season 3 Spoilers, post-episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-01
Updated: 2017-07-01
Packaged: 2018-11-21 19:53:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11364477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MariontheGeek/pseuds/MariontheGeek
Summary: An extension of the last scene of season 3. Ravi wants to make sure Liv knows that no matter what happens, he's not afraid of the outcome of that scratch.  He has something in his corner that she didn't have when she turned.  And with it, he can face whatever lies ahead.Fits with season 4.





	In My Corner

“Don’t be a dick,” Liv sighed, raising one eyebrow in mild exasperation.

 

Ravi chuckled and flashed her a boyish grin.  “You love me,” he said.

 

“Did I say that? Must have been indigestion,” said Liv, smiling in spite of herself and shaking her head.

 

Ravi took his arm back and examined it. “I don’t feel any different,” he said.  He frowned.  “Except for the scratch itself.  Now, that stings! Did you have to make it so big?”

 

“Poor baby,” Liv said with no sympathy.  “Do you want a blankie and a bottle?”

 

“A bandage would be fine, thanks,” he said, stepping past her to the shelves to grab a gauze pad and some medical tape. He went back to the morgue table and began to unwrap the gauze pad.

 

Liv reached over and took it from him.  She took it with her to grab a bottle of rubbing alcohol and another gauze pad.  “We’re checking whether you can catch zombie, not gangrene,” she said, holding up the bottle like an admonishing parent.  Ravi rolled his eyes as she doused the pad in the alcohol and brought it back. “Give me that arm.”

 

Ravi complied with a barely audible sigh.  He tried to be stoic, but a small hiss escaped his lips when Liv cleaned the scratch. She arched an eyebrow, and her lips parted, certainly ready to mock him into oblivion.  He pressed his lips together to bite back a preemptive strike. She surprised him, leaning over and blowing gently on the scratch to give him relief.  She opened the other gauze pad, folded it, and pressed it against the wound.  “Hold that,” she commanded.  He did and she taped it in place.

 

“Thank you,” he said.  She didn’t look up. Instead, she was staring at her handywork and frowning.  “Liv?”

 

She looked up to his face, her expression pensive.  “Ravi… we just… what the hell were we thinking?”

 

“Liv, I’m fine,” he said gently, reaching out with his freshly bandaged arm to touch her face.  “Really.”

 

She closed her eyes and leaned into the touch for the barest of moments before nodding stiffly, unable to look at him.  “You should get some rest,” she said.  “You look like hell.  And that’s as a human.”

 

Ravi snorted.

 

“Go on,” she said. “Go sack out on the couch for a little while.  I can set up.  I’ll wake you if we have a call.”

 

“Yes, Mummy, whatever you say, Mummy,” he said, tipping his head to the side and watching her. He made no move to do as she said.  Suddenly he had to stifle a yawn.

 

She swatted his arm.  “Go!”

 

Ravi held up his hands in surrender.  “If I’m in there more than an hour, please wake me,” he said.

 

“I will,” she said.  “Now go.”  Ravi rolled his eyes theatrically and trudged away, letting out another huge yawn as he went into the office.

 

xxx

 

Ravi sat bolt upright on the old brown sofa at the sound of a choked sob. Liv was standing over him with her hand covering her mouth and tears streaming down her face.  “What? Liv? What’s wrong? Are you okay?” he asked in a panic.

 

Slowly, she dropped her hand from her mouth and reached out to him, drawing a lock of his hair down in front of his eyes.  A stripe of his dark mane was pure white.

 

“I’m so sorry, Ravi,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.  A fresh tear rolled down her cheek.

 

Ravi frowned, reaching up to grasp the white hairs. He studied them as best he could without ripping them from his scalp.  “I don’t understand,” he said.  “I don’t feel any different.”

 

Liv looked at him, confused.  “You aren’t hungry?”

 

Ravi shrugged.  “Bit peckish because I skipped breakfast,” he said.  “But I’m craving a bagel with cream cheese and jam, not cream cheese and cerebellum.”

 

“But I scratched you… and now your hair…” She turned her face away, dashing her fists at her eyes to scrub at her tears.

 

Ravi stood and grabbed a couple of tissues from the box on his desk.  He held them out under Liv’s bowed head to catch her eye.  She looked up as she took them.  “What is going on, Ravi? How can you be turning but not turning? It doesn’t make sense.”

 

“I’m not sure,” he said, truthfully.  “It could be I’ve just slowed the progression.  That I am turning, but more slowly.”  Liv choked back another sob.  “Or it could be that this is just a minor flare up as immunity sets in.  A few symptoms while my immune system kicks into high gear and then I’m immune to the zombie virus.”

 

She studied him, as if trying to see if she could figure out which possibility was true.

 

Ravi reached out and put a hand on her shoulder.  “I really need you to know something, though, Liv,” he said.  She met his gentle gaze.  “If the turn happens, none of the blame falls on you.  I did this to myself.  And I need you to know I’m not afraid if that does happen.”

 

“That’s crap and you know it,” she said, her brow furrowing.

 

“Well, I am a little afraid of how brains taste,” he admitted. “I’ve heard you describe it enough. And I was always the wimp in my family when it came to the really spicy curries so I’m afraid you and the other zombies are going to make fun of me for using milder hot sauce.”

 

Liv snorted, shaking her head.

 

“I know becoming a zombie was really hard for you,” he said.  “But Liv, I have this one incredible thing in my corner that you didn’t have.”

 

“And what’s that, Ravi?” she asked, stepping closer and laying a hand on his chest so she could feel his heartbeat.  “Your extensive knowledge of the zombie drama that has gone before you?”

 

“No,” he said. He tipped his head to the side and caught her eyes, the corners of his mouth rising in a genuine smile.  “A friend like you.”

 

She stared into his eyes for a long moment before letting her forehead drop forward against his chest.  He gathered her to himself and wrapped his arms around her.

 

“You say the dumbest things sometimes,” she mumbled into his sweater.

 

“I do not,” he said into her hair. He shifted and rested his chin on the crown of her head.  “I pretty much think with you and me together, we can take on the whole world.”

 

She turned her head so her ear rested over his heart.  “Ravi, there’s literally a zombie apocalypse going on right now…”

 

“You’re exaggerating. We’re working on it,” he said, giving her a gentle squeeze.  “And anyway, who the hell else would I want to spend the apocalypse with?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Remember, Kudos and Comments are for writers like brains for a starving zombie.


End file.
